Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to reduce water (a) usage and (b) bills in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

In the UK the majority of water consumed on Ministry of Defence (MOD) sites is supplied by three Aquatrine Public Private Partnership contracts. The water supplied under these contractual arrangements equates to 95% by volume of consumption on UK MOD sites.

The MOD has reduced water consumption across its estate by 9% since 2010, thus exceeding a self-imposed target to achieve a 7% reduction in estate-wide water consumption and corresponding bills by 2015.

Work is continuing throughout the MOD estate to embed water use awareness, and achieve further reductions in water consumption. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation is implementing a Water Consumption Reduction programme, which will target 150 high demand sites to identify further water efficiency measures and improve the efficiency of water use.